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Razer will produce Project Fiona Windows 8 gaming tablet, crowdsource its specs

The company received the 10,000 likes on Facebook it wanted to move forward with the project. Now it's asking fans to vote on which CPU/GPU combo the tablet should have.
Written by Sean Portnoy, Contributor
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At a time when hardcore PC gaming is on the wane in popularity, if not in enthusiasm, Razer is doubling down on new hardware initiatives like its Blade gaming laptop. It showed off another concept -- a Windows 8 gaming tablet dubbed Project Fiona -- at CES in January, and thanks to a Facebook vote, Razer says it will put the slate in production. 

Last week Razer asked for 10,000 shares or likes of a post on its Facebook page in order for Project Fiona to proceed beyond the concept phase. Two days later, CEO Min-Liang Tan announced that the goal had been met and that the company will begin producing it in earnest. A couple of days later, Tan posted saying that Razer wants its fans to decide with which CPU and GPU combination the tablet will ship.

According to Tan, Project Fiona could have any of the following combos: an ARM processor, which would only deliver performance for casual gaming; an Intel Core i5 processor that uses its integrated graphics; a Core i5 or i7 processor with a midrange discrete GPU; or a Core i7 CPU with a high-end graphics card. Obviously, the third and fourth choices in particular would raise the price of Project Fiona well beyond the usual tablet pricing and increase the heft of it considerably.

Nonetheless, a quick scan of the 2,000+ comments for the post on Tan's Facebook page show that C and D appear to be the most popular choices at the moment. That's not surprising considering that there probably aren't too many casual gaming fans among Razer and Tan's Facebook audience, while there would be plenty of gamers who want the best hardware. After all, the Blade sold out its first 30-day inventory in a half hour, despite costing nearly $3,000.

Of course, a tablet with a high-end processor and graphics card may cost close to $2,000 when all is said and done. Would you have any interest in a gaming tablet like Project Fiona? Let us know in the Talkback section below. 

[Via The Tech Report]

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